“WAIT A MINUTE! WHAT?!” Rachel yelled after spitting out her water. “He had you climbing walls and you didn’t even give him an answer!?” Candace spat at me. “I swear to God, I’m gonna ask him how that tongue twirls next time we see him,” Jamie yelled between snorts and giggles.
“Syd, he fucked up your whole game,” Melanie said while crossing her legs and tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I know! That’s the scary part! He totally took me by surprise and I had no idea what to do. I even cried and everything!” I explained to the bunch. “You cried before, during, or after he gave you head?” Candace asked, raising one eyebrow.
Actually it was before and during, I guess all of that built up tension and frustration being relieved brought tears to my eyes. I wasn’t about to tell her that though. I’d never hear the end of it. “After,” I lied, “he sat and poured his soul out to me. He even told me why he left. He even talked about us having a baby! Do I look like the type of person who would have a baby?” I asked rhetorically. “Not at all. You do good just to keep yourself alive,” Rachel added. “Fuck you Rach. That’s beside the point. He really fucked my whole head up and now I really don’t know what to do.” Four pairs of eyes stared at me as we sat on Reggie and Rachel’s front porch with the sun blazing and not a speck of wind blowing.
“You take him up on his offer. We all watched your life fall apart last year. If he was that
serious to pour his heart out to you, then you listen and take it and run with it. He likes you, stupid. Now let him love you.” This was the first time that any of my friends felt so good about me forming a relationship with someone. It was heartwarming. Every girl dreams of sitting back with their friends, telling them all of the juicy details from their dates, and unfortunately for me, my
relationship was never the topic for discussion on a positive note.
“So that’s it? I just go running into his arms for a happily ever after?” I asked the bunch, still trying to figure all of this out. “No dumb ass. You spend more time with him until you’re comfortable enough to move forward with him. I swear you act like you’ve never had a boyfriend before.” I stared at Candace. “I’d chill with the insults if I was you,” I said glaring at her. I hope she hadn’t forgot about the other night when she was high as a kite and the days before that when she was being a bitch because she was sober. I would never forgive her for that shit. “Anyway, before you two tear each other’s heads off, aren’t you going to the beach for the summer anyway?” Jamie asked, not wanting a fight to break out between us.
I put my issue with Candace in the back of my mind and turned to Jamie to answer her question. “Yeah. My parents take me and Candace every summer. It’s their way of ‘keeping us out of the trouble back in Welch’,” I said, mocking my father. Honestly, I had no idea how well that would turn out. I hadn’t been home in almost a week ever since school let out. I knew my mom would be pissed. I made sure I never worried them too much. Every now and then I’d reply to her texts with, “I’m fine Mom,” and then I wouldn't make the effort to talk to her.
“Sydney, when’s the last time you actually saw your mom?” Rachel asked. “About a week ago, but we’ve kept in contact. You guys know she’s been giving me my space.” Candace looked at me and had her arms folded across her chest. “She doesn’t need to give you any space. I know I’m about the last person that has any room to talk, but Syd, Dean really almost fucked up your life.” She went there. She mentioned the one person who I fought so hard each and every day to forget about.
Dean Johnson had been my boyfriend for two years. I don’t think you’d exactly call his ass a boyfriend. He was more like a problem. Every single day was fight after fight after fight and I was surprised that I had even made it two years with him. I’d never forget the day I called myself being nice to him, hugging him trying to be cute, by my bus one day when school was dismissed. Once
we started dating, it was problem after problem and so much fighting that I could hardly live with myself. That’s when the drinking and the partying began. We would break up for a few days, I’d go to a party, get as drunk as possible, other guys would talk to me, and then he would try to get me back purely out of jealousy.
The last time I took him back, I swore it would be the last time and after a lengthy argument one weekend about me deciding to get put on birth control, one morning I woke up to blood gushing from my body as if I had been stabbed in the vagina. I didn’t know if I should have taken that as a sign, but that was it for me. He never showed up to visit me in the hospital, so I never even bothered to tell him that I was there because of a miscarriage. He didn’t care enough to come see me and find out what was wrong, so there was no point in explaining things to him.
The last time I saw him was one night at Reggie’s when Rachel had thrown an anniversary party for her and Reggie. She wanted it to be formal, so everyone had to dress up. It was my first time stepping out anywhere since I had gotten out of the hospital a month prior, so I had chosen a black strapless body contouring dress that fit snuggly above my knees and a seven inch pair of pink
velvet heels. I had to have some serious skills to have been able to drink as much as I did with my heels being so tall.
"Wow Syd, you clean up nice,” Rachel said when she and Reggie approached me, wrapped around each other. I felt so insecure standing around in a room full of people after laying in a hospital bed for a week with IVs going into my arms. I knew there would be rumors that I had overdosed or some crazy shit like that and some people would try to say that I tried to commit suicide because of my break-up, but hell, I didn’t care. “I know! You look good enough to eat girl!” Brayden Adair said to me, pulling me away from the two. I had never seen so many people there since Reggie started inviting more than close friends to his parties. I was in my own world, moving to the beat, and ignoring any and everyone else in the room when I was pulled from my trance to a group of people arguing directly in front of me. And that was when my heart felt like it was going to fall out of my ass. “Back the fuck up or I promise you, I’ll beat your ass!” Brayden yelled, and without thinking, I pushed through the small crowd that was moving Dean and Brayden outside, I
yelled, “Don’t do it Brayden!” I still remember Brayden’s wide brown eyes looking at me as I flew down the stairs, not missing a step with my giant shoes to meet them on the grass. Everyone prayed for me not to fall, “Let me!” My fist collided with that son of a bitch’s chin and I felt every single bone in my hand shatter. In the middle of my rage, I blacked out and when I finally came to,
Reggie and Derek were dragging me across the yard and Jake was crawling across the grass, spitting out blood and teeth as he went along. If I hadn’t been proud of anything else, that night was definitely it .
“I remember. I’ll never forget it as hard as I try,” I admitted. “Well give Danny a chance so you can forget him. Invite him to the beach with you guys and see where things go,” Rachel said. What could possibly go wrong? We had an entire month at the beach with my parents in one beach house and Candace and me in another. “Okay. I’ll give it a try.” The five of us stood up, relieved that I
was able to get this off of my chest. If no one else could tell me what to do about all of this, they could.
They all knew me better than anyone else. “Just keep your head on straight, girl. Don’t be so defensive. Let him in. Who knows? You two could be meant for each other,” Melanie said almost begging me. I took a deep breath and stepped off of the porch. I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but I had Danny all over my mind. He was all I could think about since last night. He really liked me and I still couldn’t believe it. If I would have let him in last year, all of this could have been avoided.
I pulled my phone out and texted him. It was the only way I could keep myself from going crazy about this situation. I had to take the advice I had just received and run with it.
Me: Hey. What are you doing tonight? My hands trembled as I typed the words in.
He immediately replied.
D: Not a thing. Just hanging out at the house. Would you like to join me?
My heart began to race. I wanted nothing more than to join him.
Me: Of course. I hope you’re not too tired from last night. I added a winking emoji before I sent the message back to him.
D: Well, you were the one doing all of the screaming. I thought your soul left your body for a second. Thinking about last night sent chills all over my body and made me even more excited to see him.
Me: Ha-ha. Very funny. Can you pick me up?
A horn beeping behind me scared the shit out of me. I whipped my head around to see that familiar black Malibu parked across the street just a few steps away from Rachel’s house. Danny stood there smiling at me. I smiled back and stood with one hand on my hip when my
phone buzzed again.
D: Way ahead of you.
I ran over to him like a jolly school girl and I jumped into his arms for a warm embrace. My body knocked into his, almost knocking the wind out of the both of us. “Looks like someone is happy to see me,” he laughed, hugging me tightly. “I am, but are you stalking me now?” I asked curious as to why he was here and why he wasn’t at home. “No actually. I have friends that live over here
too.” Of course. I knew he would use that as an excuse. “I pulled up right as you were stepping off of the porch. I had to talk to Reggie for a few minutes and he told me that you had come over for some girl talk. By the way, who said something about how my tongue twirls?” Oh God. I’d have to put my foot in Reggie's ass for this one. “Nobody! Reggie was just ear hustling!” I giggled as he
pulled me into his arms once more and held me there.
I looked up at him and was captured by those beautiful gray eyes again. “Do I get a kiss?” he asked, catching me off guard. “Depends. Do you want a kiss?” I asked. He held onto my chin and dove in to kiss me passionately. My legs stopped working and I could have melted in his arms. “I guess I had to take it. Get in. We have business to attend to.” After last night, I was curious and excited about what this business could have possibly been pertaining to.
